Given rising work and family demands in our society for both men and women, the experience of work-family conflict is commonplace. Work-family conflict occurs when the demands of work or family make it difficult to meet the demands of the alternate domain. A sizeable body of research has established work-family conflict and its nomological network. Despite decades of research, we have yet to form a precise understanding of when work-family conflicts occur and what happens when a conflict arises. The current research addresses these questions using an experience sampling, episodic approach. Two primary research questions are addressed. First, I used border and boundary theory to identify when work-family conflict episodes are likely to occur. Second, I used stressor-strain and allostatic load theories to examine what happens with regard to psychological, physiological, and behavioral strain following an episodic work-family conflict over time. The results suggest work-family conflict occurs when individuals transition in between work and family domains. Further, family-to-work conflict tends to occur in the morning, while work-to-family conflict tends to occur in the afternoon. Fatigue showed significant reactivity at the time of a family-to-work conflict and recovered in the following time point. Unhealthy eating also showed a sleeper pattern, such that unhealthy eating increased at the end of the day, following a work-to-family conflict. Unexpectedly, fatigue decreased at the time of a family-to-work conflict, indicating family-to-work conflict may be a restorative, rather than taxing. Post-hoc analyses showed some evidence that work-to-family conflict accumulation is associated with increased strain over the course of three days. Again, results suggest family-to-work conflict accumulation may reduce, rather than increase, strain. Implications for the theoretical relationship between work-family conflict and strain, as well as border/boundary theory are discussed. In addition, practical implications for flexible work initiatives and episodic research design are considered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USF/oai:scholarcommons.usf.edu:etd-8596 |
| Date | 07 November 2017 |
| Creators | French, Kimberly A. |
| Publisher | Scholar Commons |
| Source Sets | University of South Flordia |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
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